Searching
by ProdigyPsycho
Summary: All Hugh wanted to do was meet his father. Somehow, to the rest of the world, that made him a criminal.
1. Prologue:1 (Return)

_Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Nintendo does. I think._

Well, this is an idea I had for quite some time, finally got down to doing something about it.

Hope you people enjoy it.

Universe: Game (Black 2/White 2) (mildly AU)

Main character: Hugh.

* * *

His blue hair bent with the calm breeze that blew past him. Piercing dark maroon eyes stared at the sun as it set. The edges of Aspertia City could be seen mingling with the few trees on Route 1. It was a calming sight for all who had the time to stand there and watch. But the view was only part of the reason Hugh had come there.

He had finally completed his quest in finding his sister's Purrloin. True, it was now a Leipard, but he had found the Pokémon. He had showed it to his sister, and she was delighted that he had got it back. His mission was completed. And that was the source of his dilemma.

Without his 'mission', he didn't know what he could do now. He could still travel, but he had seen almost all of Unova. The places he hadn't seen, weren't worth the time. He could continue training his Pokémon, but they were already monsters. Now only the Champion and the Elite Four were a challenge, but after them? He had nothing. Some of the gym leaders had recommended becoming a gym leader himself, but Unova already had an abundance of Gym leaders (eleven, Unova had the record for having the most gym leaders at a time). He did not want to be just another statistic. Now, there wasn't anything for him to do.

As he stared at the setting sun, a cold melancholy settled over him. Not really knowing what he was doing, he pulled out his X-Tranceiver and called the first number he found. The screen went black for a minute until the recipient picked the call up. Warm brown eyes met his own. Strands of brown hair fell over his red hair-band.

"Hugh! What's up? Did you give your sister her Purrloin?"

Hugh cracked a small grin as his best friend smiled at him.

"It's a Leipard now, idiot. And no, I haven't given her the Leipard yet. In fact, I just flew here. Right now I'm at the Lookout, enjoying the view. What about you? What are you doing?"

Nate's eyes lit up now.

"I'm reaching Opelucid city soon. I'll be fighting Drayden soon! I can't wait! I'm gonna train Emboar to..."

Hugh's face relaxed into an easy smile as he continued listening to Nate go on about his plans on how he was going to defeat the gym. Nate's eyes had that familiar spark that his own often got when someone talked to him about Pokemon battling. That was the thing that brought the two of them together when they were younger. They were an odd pair. One extremely polite to everyone, the other glaring at random passer-by's, but they could often be found bonding in front of a TV showing a Pokémon battle, discussing strategies and their own reactions if they were in that situation.

"Drayden uses Dragon-types, right?" Hugh interrupted "Since he's one of the strongest Gym Leaders around, he will definitely have counters against Ice types. Using Dragon types will be kind of redundant since you will also have a weakness against him. How about teaching a Pokémon that will be neutral against him an ice type, or dragon tyre move? Like your Emboar learning Ice-Punch?"

Nate stopped his rant and blinked. The effect was somewhat comical.

"That works."He agreed with a nod.

Both boys let out a chuckle.

Sobering up, Nate frowned a bit. "So what happened? You rarely call just for the heck of it."

Hugh leaned backward, trying to look nonchalant.

"Can't I call my best friend to find out how he's doing?"

Nate seemed unimpressed with that. Hugh sighed.

"Its just that..." Hugh was at a loss for words. How do you tell your friend that now that you have accomplished your goal, you have no idea what you are gonna do with the rest of your life. Actually, that was pretty easy. The trick was in saying that, and not landing up in a conversation where Nate told him to do what his heart told him to do. That would then lead to a very awkward and depressing talk. That's right, feelings and pubescent boys do NOT go well together.

"...You have reached your destination and don't know where to go from here." Nate finished for him, and seeing his friends grow wide in astonishment, gave a nod of satisfaction and kept a straight face. Hugh's eyes looked like they were about to pop out.

"How... How did you..." Hugh stammered out, before pausing and thinking for a bit. Then he narrowed his eyes "You got a Gardevoir, didn't you?"

Nate chuckled and replied (looking very smug, Hugh noted. A bit too smug, for his tastes.) "Ever since we were 12, all you have ever talked about was getting stronger to get your sister's Purrloin back. Now that you've got it back, you wouldn't know what to do. I've been expecting this call ever since we raided Team Plasma's base. Now tell me, who's the most awesome friend ever?"

Hugh gave him a dry look until Nate stopped looking like an all knowing jerk-ass. When Nate dropped the haughty expression, only then did Hugh smile back at him. He was grateful that Nate knew about his dilemma before Hugh even approached him. This would probably help keep the conversation out of stormy waters.

"As for the answer..." Nate trailed off, looking uncertain "... I don't know. How about doing what your heart tells you to?"

Hugh gave Nate another dry look as he retracted his previous statement about being grateful to Nate. Nate gave a forced chuckle.

"How about completing the gym challenge? I know for a fact that you have a few badges. Why don't you try getting the complete set?"

"Been there, done that." Hugh responded airily.

"Well how about... Wait. What?!"

"I got all the badges before trying to find out Team Plasma's base. I also tried challenging the Elite Four. Sadly, I got knocked out in my third fight against Grimsley, after beating Shauntal and Marshal. I can't challenge them again for entire year again, as Pokemon League rules dictate. So if you were about to suggest that, drop it."

Nate was now staring at Hugh with his mouth wide open. Now it seemed that it was Nate's turn to seem like his eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. Hugh had the momentary mental vision of Nate, down on all fours, patting the ground, searching for his eyes, which had rolled away after popping out.

"You challenged the League..." Nate voice was awed, almost reverent. Hugh had to struggle to keep the smug smile off his face. The Nate's eyes lost their glassy look and startled sparkling again.

"You challenged the League!" This time, Nate's voice was happy excited. Interested. Almost like he was asking Hugh ' _Tell me what Pokemon they had! What moves did they use.'_ Hugh was still struggling to not let the smile ruin his perfectly deadpan expression. Nate paused, his eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration. Then he glared at Hugh.

"You challenged the league." Nate's voice was soft, but it soon went up to a full blown yell "YOU CHALLENGED THE LEAGUE! AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TELLING ME THIS?!"

Hugh knew he was fighting a losing battle. He decided to give up and let the laughter take over. He broke down, laughing so hard, that tears were gathering at the corners of his eyes. Nate continued glaring at the blue haired boy, until he came to a stop. Finally, Hugh found the decency to look guilty.

"I.. err .. forgot?"

The prolonged silence that followed that statement was broken by the return of laughter, only this time, it comprised of two voices.

-Pokemon-

The moon was up now, and it illuminated the building that Hugh now stood in front of. Hesitantly, he knocked. The sound of shuffled footstep could be heard from behind the door. Hugh swallowed nervously; he had been away for over a year now. One of the most pressing fears he had was that, his family might have changed. Would he no longer be able to recognise his sister's carefree laughs? Or identify the savory dishes his mother cooked? Or enjoy the comfortable silences between his father and himself? But what he feared most was his own change.

He knew that his journey had changed him. He was no longer the brash headstrong kid that was always ready for a fight. Now he was older, wiser, not as emotionally directed as before. Nate had commented over their talk as to how after finding Purrloin (Leipard, he corrected himself) he had mellowed down. Was he now so different that none of his family would be able to connect him to the Hugh of the past? Was he now a stranger in his own home?

"Yes?"

The sleepy voice that answered broke him out of his reverie. He heard the scraping of iron against iron and his mother's head peeped out. Their eyes met, and the world seemed to pause. Hugh felt that his stomach might suddenly get bored of its location, jump up, climb up his esophagus, out his mouth and take a journey of its own. Another disturbing image popped into his head of his stomach beating the League and Hugh beaming proudly down at his organ saying "It's part of me after all."

Hugh was now sweating, and not because of the mental image. His mother hadn't moved an inch.

"Hugh?"

Her voice was soft, questioning. Careful. His heart broke. He was so different now, that his own mother didn't recognize him. Trying hard to keep back his tears, Hugh nodded jerkily, not trusting himself to speak. Another moment passed, where mother continued staring at her son, and then she was hugging him hard, and he was hugging her back, and both had tears flowing down their eyes.

And Hugh finally felt his fears wash away.

-Pokemon-

Hugh walked his sister back from Route 1 with a smile on his face. The two of them had just been goofing off, while trying to have a Pokémon race. Sofia had been riding her Leipard (although she had grown in the last year, Leipard could easily carry her). He had chosen his Bouffalaunt, just to be fair. If he chose his Flygon or Unfezant, that would just be plain mean. (Speaking of whom, it was about time he gave Unfezant to Cheren. His first flying type never really liked Hugh, they stayed together just due to mutual respect and Cheren was griping about not having a flying type, it would make Cheren's job as Professor Juniper's part-time assistant much easier. Hugh offered his Unfezant and when the two met, it was love at first sight.)

Leipard was the more agile of the two, but months of training had made Bouffalaunt the faster one. It was a close race too, with both riders urging their Pokémon to go faster as they neared the finish line. In the end, Leipard had won. (When Sofia wasn't looking, Hugh thanked Bouffalaunt for playing along) The two were now strolling towards their house, holding each others hand, one listening with a small smile on his face as the other gushed about how fast her Purrloin (Leipard, Hugh gently corrected her) had become.

When they entered the apartment they found it in an eerie silence, both parents in the kitchen. His mother looked distraught, her features tense, her fore-head wrinkled, her eyes worried, his father wasn't much better, but he tried to hide it. When they had entered, his father had looked up at them and smiled, but Hugh was pretty sure that even Sofia could see the worry in their eyes. Hugh and Sofia looked from one parent to the other, the worry catching onto them. His father seemed to sense this, and attempted to placate them by saying that nothing was wrong.

Sofia seemed to buy it. Her face lost its worry quickly. She gave her brother a quick hug and murmured "Thanks for playing with me today" against his stomach, before rushing up the stairs. Hugh wasn't so easily convinced. He eyed both his parents.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course son, there is nothing to worry about."

With this sentence, his mother seemed to relax considerably. Her features relaxed and she even smiled. Hugh still wasn't convinced, the worry in her eyes was still present. But he knew better than to confront them about it. He gave the two of them one last glance before slowly ascending the stairs.

"If you're sure about it."

When he was out of their sight, the two started whispering again, and Hugh might have imagined it, but he also felt that he heard his own name used in one of the sentences.

That may or may not have had something to do with the chill he felt going down his spine.

-Pokemon-

"Thank you for having me over, Mrs. B."

Hugh felt that his journey had also increased his manners. He considered himself so much polite than pre-Pokemon-journey-Hugh. So he was surprised when he saw the small frown on Nate's mother's face.

"I've told you so many times now, the moment you left on your Pokémon journey, you became an adult, and you are now allowed to refer to me by my first name, and I expect you to use it."

Fleetingly, he thought about the irony of the situation. Nate's mother was scolding him like he was a child, for not being more like an adult. 'On second thoughts' Hugh mused 'maybe it isn't that ironic'. He still felt her sharp gaze on him. He let out a sigh.

"Thank you...Elaine."

The words felt foreign, and he felt stupid saying them. But, they effect they seemed to have on her was much more positive. Her mouth lost its tightness as it curved into a smile. "There." She said, letting out a contented sigh "I no longer feel old enough, to have had a sixteen year old son."

"But you do have a sixteen year old son." Hugh felt the overwhelming need to point out. She gave out a happy laugh. "And you're welcome, Hugh." Hugh wasn't sure if she was refering to having a sixteen year old son, or having him over. "It was a pleasure having you over."

Ah, that cleared it up.

Hugh walked away grinning for a few steps, before turning around and waving out to her while walking backwards. She smiled and waved back.

Turning around and looking in the direction he was walking again, Hugh reflected on the day's events. He had finally found the time to give Cheren his Unfezant, at sometime around 5, when the last challenger of Cheren's gym left. After that, his mother had told him that Nate's mother wanted to talk to him. Apparently, her X-Tranceiver had broken down a month back, and she wanted to know how Nate was doing. He spent some time telling her about Nate's adventures. In return, she had told him about some of her own adventures when she was a trainer. Soon both of them had started trading stories of some of the important battles in their trainer career.

Nate's mom,(he still though calling her Elaine was wrong) Hugh had come to the conclusion, was cool. He wouldn't replace his mother for anything in the world, but Nate's mother was a fun person to talk to, just like her son. A long time ago, Nate had told him that it was a great feeling making new friends, and Hugh had to agree.

He was so lost in thought, that only after reaching his doorstep, did he realize that it was night. The moon shone, brilliantly, just like the day he had first returned back home a month ago. Lost in memories, Hugh entered the apartment.

He found his father in the living room, reading a book, his mother in the kitchen, obviously preparing dinner. He apologized for returning home that late, and when his father waved it off, he smiled and went up into his room.

He did not notice the significant looks his parents gave each other.

-Pokemon-

Hugh was checking his Pokedex pages, when they knocked on his door. He made it a point, to go through his Pokedex whenever he had the chance, reviewing the stats and characteristics of Pokémon he had encountered. He had decided that he would go on another journey, travelling another region, getting more badges, challenging another League. His parents had been supportive in his venture; their only request was that he stay with them for a bit longer. He was more than glad to oblige.

"May we enter?"

Hugh looked up to see his father peeping in. Puzzled, he nodded. His parents rarely disturbed him after dinner. His father entered, followed by his mother. They both sat down on his bed, facing him. Subconsciously, Hugh straightened up, and leaned forward. His parents had sat down; this meant that this was going to be long and important.

"I think it's about time we told you this. Your mother feels that we should wait until you finish your trip around Hoenn, but you a legal adult now, so I don't see the point of waiting any longer."

Hugh's eyebrow furrowed, thinking about what they could be talking about. It was important, that much he knew. It was a long term thing, if his mother thought that they could wait another two years before telling him that. Hugh could think of nothing that fit the bill.

"Remember, dear, no matter what happens, we will always love you, you will always be our son."

Hugh suddenly felt his insides turn to liquid. The entire fuss was about something to do with him. And his mother thought that it might make him distance himself from his parents. That meant only one thing. They were about to tell him that he had a medical condition that would make him insane by the time he was 25.

It was worse.

"We... aren't your biological parents."

"We adopted you."

* * *

Yup, I like plot twists. As to who Hugh's parents are, I'll leave that for you to find out next time.

I have the next few chapter thought out, and I will type them out. But it probably will take a long time.

Hope you enjoyed.

Read and Review.

Peace Out.

-ProdigyPsycho


	2. Prologue:2 (Revelation)

Urgh. This chapter was difficult to write. So much emotional stuff. Yeesh.

* * *

In hindsight, Hugh thought he could have handled the situation better. When his parents had revealed _that_ Hugh just sat there, struck dumb. His parents (could he even call them that anymore?), although a worried about his reaction, ploughed on with the story.

Apparently, twenty years ago, his fath- the man he was living with was part of some large scale crime organization twenty years ago. He was pretty high profile, going by the name of Pluto. Then, he had an attack of conscience, and decided to leave the organization. The leader was sympathetic and let him go. Three years later, the leader had a child with a woman. While giving birth, she had perished. The leader couldn't bear this loss. He decided that if he could control space and time, he could get his wife back. And so, he began his quest of capturing the legendary Pokémon, Dialga and Palkia. The leader decided that raising a child would be too distracting, so he contacted Pluto and gave him one last assignment. Raise the child.

That child was Hugh.

After the entire story, Hugh just sat there, staring at the ground, his mind whirring around at high speeds, but going nowhere. This just caused an increase in his parents worry. When they broke the heavy silence that followed the story by calling out his name, Hugh stood up and ran out of his room.

This led him to where he was now, on the back of his Flygon, flying to the place furthest from Aspertia City. Hugh just blinked away the tears that were threatening to form on the corners of his eyes. He just wanted to be _alone._ Where no one could disturb him and try to comfort him. He didn't need comfort right now, all he needed was time to process the information.

His Flygon descended, having reached their destination. Jumping off his Flygon's back without waiting for him to land, Hugh landed on the side of a steep mountain. He recalled Flygon with soft "Thanks, buddy."

Flygon sent him a worried look before returning to his Pokeball.

Even through all these circumstances, Hugh managed to crack a smile. No matter what happened, he could always depend on his Pokémon. They would never betray him.

-Pokemon-

"Hugh?"

The blue haired boy looked up startled, surprised to see that someone had snuck up on him. He had been sitting on the edge of the rocky road, legs dangling off the edge of the path which descended in to steep fall, his eyes trained upon the sun that was slowly rising, when the person had disturbed him. He looked behind to see a woman, a bit shorter than him with short purple hair and large circular glasses that framed her large eyes

"Shauntal?"

She smiled as she approached him and joined him in watching the rising sun, sitting right beside him. Hugh looked at her curiously.

"What are you doing out here, this early?"

She gave him another cryptic smile, and answered "I was searching for inspiration for my next book, and decided that a sunrise would do perfectly. It is a very beautiful view. The sun rising behind Victory road sends a powerful message of hope."

With that, she turned her head and watched the sun creep up ever so slowly. Hugh watched her for a few moments, his eyebrows scrunching in confusion. When he had battled her in the Elite Four, she seemed so scatter-brained. Now, the 19-year old looked so serene, gazing forward with a small content smile. Shaking his head, he followed her gaze, his own mouth curving into an identical smile.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, until she broke it.

"What about you? I thought you lived in Aspertia City, what are you doing here?"

The question was not interrogatory, just laced with mild curiosity and inquisitiveness. Yet, Hugh visibly flinched, when she asked him that.

"I was just..." Hugh struggled for an answer "... waiting for my friend, Nate, to reach here, he said he was going to challenge the League. I'm here as moral support."

Hugh wasn't completely lying. Nate was on his way through Victory Road. Before entering, two days ago, he had called Hugh and told him that he was at Victory Road, and would be expecting a blue haired rival waiting for a Pokémon battle at the end. But, Shauntal, seemed to sense that he wasn't being completely truthful. She frowned slightly, but did not call him out on it. Maybe she knew he didn't want to talk about it.

They sat in silence again, watching the sun slowly climb up. Suddenly she turned to Hugh.

"Could you do me a favour?"

Hugh blinked at her.

 _What?!_

Instead of voicing his thoughts, he slowly nodded, wondering what she could be going on about. Shauntal gave him a quick smile before digging into her bag and pulling out a Pokeball, which she handed to Hugh. Hugh looked down at the Pokeball, and then back up at her, this time his expression was even more confused.

"A few days ago I found this Shuppet hurt and injured. I captured and healed it, but I can't continue raising it, with all my duties as part of the Elite Four. So I wanted to ask you to take care of it. Will you?" Shauntal tilted her head sideways, waiting for a reply.

Hugh opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it. Instead, he nodded again. Shauntal's face lit up with a smile as she got up, her fingers brushing against Hugh's as she did so.

"Thank you." She bowed at him "Well I must be off, Elite Four stuff to do. Tell, your friend I wished him the best of luck when he challenges us."

With that, she turned and walked away, humming a tune to herself. Hugh stared at her retreating figure until it disappeared round a turn. Then he looked at the Pokeball in his hand.

 _Why did she want me, specifically, to take care of it?_

Frowning slightly, he released the Pokémon inside. Out came the dark grey coloured Pokémon, watching him with its large pale blue and yellow eyes. Hesitantly reaching out, Hugh, petted the Pokémon. It seemed to like this and leaned into the touch. Soon it was nestled in his lap, sleeping deeply.

All thoughts about his parents were pushed to the side as he studied the small ghost type on his lap. Slowly, without disturbing the Pokémon, he pulled out his Pokedex and scanned it.

 _Shuppet,_ it read _._ The Pokémon on his lap shifted slightly, searching for a more comfortable position. Hugh's eyes went back to the Pokedex. He noted that the Shuppet was female.

 _The Puppet Pokémon. It feeds on the dark emotions of sadness and hatred, which make it grow steadily stronger. Read more?_

Hugh pressed the read more button. Recently, Professor Juniper had been able to connect the Pokedex to larger server, so other people could add to the entries. This way, information on each Pokémon got more detailed.

 _Superstition states that Shuppet and its evolution Banette can also influence people and Pokémon to feel negative information, but that is false. Studies show that people who own this Pokémon or are in constant exposure to this Pokémon actually feel happier. It is theorized, that since they 'feed' on negative emotions, the producers of these emotions can't feel them anymore. Some psychologists say that this Pokémon can also help cure some psychological illnesses such as depression and can help in anger management._

Hugh re-read the entry again just to be sure.

 _Studies show that people who own this Pokémon or are in constant exposure to this Pokémon actually feel happier._

Hugh blinked again as he let the information slowly sink in. So that was why Shauntal wanted him to raise the Shuppet. Despite himself, when he gazed down at the Shuppet, he smiled.

-Pokemon-

Hugh spent the whole day on Victory road, aimlessly walking about, thinking about the previous night's events. The Shuppet happily followed him floating circles around him. Now, since he had calmed down (with a lot of help from Shuppet) he could understand why his parents acted the way they did.

He thought that they kept this information from him because they didn't trust him. Now, as he relived the experience in his mind, he could see how wrong he was. The concern in his mother's eyes was not because of her thinking that Hugh might turn to crime because he now knew who his biological father was. It was because she didn't want to push him away. She wanted Hugh to stay. She wanted Hugh to believe that even though they didn't have any common blood, they still loved him.

The thought was humbling.

Hugh glanced up to see Shuppet happily flying in loops around him. Smiling he reached out to pet it as he decided that it was time they left the cave. Nate was definitely waiting for him at the League. Imagining Nate's annoyed huff, Hugh felt visibly lighter.

True to his word, Nate was waiting at the Poke-centre and nearly threw a hissy fit when he saw Hugh stroll out leisurely. He worked out all his frustrations on Hugh during their battle. The two emerged dusty, tired, totally spent yet, happy. An hour later, when both their Pokémon were back in fighting shape, Nate took on the League.

The battles were awe-inspiring. You could see the sense of raw power each Pokémon had, which their respective trainers shaping and using in the most efficient way. But Hugh, Nate was taking it easy. Even against the Champion, a girl named Iris, Hugh could see Nate was not putting in his all.

And Hugh knew why.

It was a testament to their friendship. Both Hugh and Nate knew each other through and through. Both knew how the other would react if they used a Hyper Beam or how they would follow up after using an Aura Sphere. And so, during their battles, instead of relying on instinct and pre-determined plan only, they had to constantly modify and change. And it was because of their battles with each other that they were at their current levels of power.

Hugh knew that Iris was a better trainer than him. But he was the more challenging opponent to Nate.

In the end, Nate emerged victorious, grinning madly at Hugh, who only grinned back.

-Pokemon-

With a soft sound, Hugh landed on the pavement. Flygon landed a few feet ahead. Hugh absentmindedly rubbed his flank and Flygon gave a gentle purr of satisfaction. Hugh knew he was stalling, and he wanted to do this before he lost his nerve. So recalling his dragon into his pokeball, Hugh walked up to the door and slowly pushed it open.

His parents (yes, they were his parents, even though there wasn't any blood connection) were in the kitchen. His mother was crying and his father was trying to comfort her, but you could see that he was in pain too.

When they heard the click of the door closing, they both looked up but didn't have the time to react before Hugh was right in front of them and hugging them and whispering "I'm sorry" in both their ears. All they did was hug him back.

Through the tears, he just hugged them harder and smiled when they reciprocated.

 _He was home._

-Pokemon-

"So Sinnoh, huh?"

Both he and Nate were at Castelia port, Hugh in front of the ship going to SnowPoint City. Hugh nodded.

"I guess I'll be seeing you soon, you better come back stronger, because when you do, I'll be waiting for a challenge."

"You should get ready to hand over that title to me, since, when I do beat you, I'll become champion." Hugh replied with a smirk.

"We'll see about that."

Both gave identical grins before fist-bumping each other.

-Pokemon-

Hugh leaned against the railings of the ship, staring out into the great blue, a determined spark in his eye.

It wasn't because he knew that if he ever did get around to collecting Sinnoh badges, he would win.

It was because he knew that he was going to find his biological father. He had informed his parents about his decision. His mother had been worried as his father informed him that for the last two years Team Galactic, the crime organization his biological father ran, had gone underground and no one had heard anything about them.

He had assured his father that he shouldn't worry.

He would find the man, no matter what came his way.

An then, he and Cyrus would have a long talk.

* * *

Seriously, this chapter hurt to write. I hate all that emotional stuff. At least the next chapter will have a bit more action. Yay. And yeah, Cyrus is the father. I mean, both have blue spiky hair, and those thin eyes. And its an amusing plot-bunny.

Hope yall enjoyed.

Read and reveiw!

Peace out.

-ProdigyPsycho


	3. Snowpoint City (Beginings)

Hugh knew that Unova was further away from the four other regions than they were from each other, but somehow never really understood the fact and its implications. He knew Team Galactic nearly succeeded in capturing the Pokémon that nearly everyone there considered as gods, but that didn't prepare him for the amount of hatred the people of Sinnoh had for them. He also knew that he looked a lot like his father, but he didn't know how similar they were until he landed in Sinnoh.

From the time he got off the ship at the port in Snowpoint City, the people he passed gave him a mistrustful look and turned back to do whatever they were doing, but he could feel their eyes on his back, watching his every move. He wished his jacket was thicker, he felt cold, and not just because it was snowing.

Snowpint City wasn't that large, and it was relatively easy to navigate it. He made his way around town, searching, until he found a Poke-centre. He entered quietly, trying very hard not to draw attention to himself as he made his way towards the PC's. It was time for some research.

Hugh quickly entered _Team Galactic_ into the search bar. Soon, the screen was filled with news articles dating back from the past 4 years since Team Galactic made itself known as the most dangerous criminal organization in Sinnoh. Going through the articles, High was tempted to agree. Like Team Plasma, Team Galactic indulged in mass Pokémon stealing, public destruction, dealing in forbidden technology, Pokémon slavery, all under the delusion that they were working to perfect the world they were living in.

Pert of the reason Hugh hated Team Plasma, if one looked past the fact that they had stolen his sister's Purrloin, was that they actually made a bit of sense. When he had first heard of Team Plasma's goals, he actually doubted if his own Snivy wanted to be free. Hugh hated self-doubt. And since Team Plasma was the cause of his doubt, it was only logical that he would hate them too. But the fact was Team Plasma made sense. The fact that publicly they were fighting for Pokémon rights mad them garner a lot of public sympathy before they actually started performing illegal activities.

Team Galactic, on the other hand, was clearly led by a madman. True, the world they lived in was imperfect, but to try to change it by destroying it and starting all over? That was pure insanity. The only reason why the world was imperfect was because of people like Cyrus. Hugh suddenly felt sick. Was this the man whose blood he had?

As he went through the articles, he finally found a picture of Cyrus. His hair was the same as his own, except that its colour was vastly different. While Hugh's hair was a dark deep blue, Cyrus' was a pale blue. But the way it grew was the same. Short sharp spikes. Another similarity Hugh found was the eyes. Cyrus had grey eyes, Hugh had maroon, but the intensity they had was the same. As Hugh went through the articles, he found more photographs and even footage at times. One especially stood out.

This one was of Cyrus in battle. His Houndoom was pitted against a Vaporeon. Although Cyrus seemed to have the type disadvantage, Houndoom seemed to be winning. The camera was shaking badly, and a few leaves covered the sides of the video, obviously the camera man was not experienced and was hiding behind some bushes.

The battle was short and brutal, Houndoom making quick work of the Vaporeon.

"Crunch."

The command wasn't yelled, yet it carried over the sound of the battle easily. Houndoom clamped down had on the Vaporeon, and shook it violently. When it was clear that the Vaporeon was out, the Houndoom let it fly. It landed limply on the ground in front of its trainer. The trainer rushed forward, obviously worried for his Vaporeon. Cyrus still had his back to the camera, his Houndoom in front of him loyally waiting for Cyrus.

Cyrus continued watching the trainer hang around his Pokémon before, "Dark pulse."

A beam of darkness shot out from Houndoom's mouth. The trainer barely had time to realize what was happening before he was blasted back, along with his Vaporeon. The two landed on the ground, this time both were unconscious. Cyrus studied the field again, before recalling his Houndoom and turning around to face the camera.

The cameraman seemed to realize he was found out, and so the camera started swinging wildly as, focusing on the grassy ground, as its wielder ran away.

The video clipping finally went blank, signifying its end. Hugh leaned back on his chair, his mind whirling around fast enough to give him a headache. Cyrus was brutal. He fought with no mercy, and even when the battle was done, he fought on. He had nearly killed that trainer for Zekrom's sake! And when he had turned around to glare at the camera mad, even through the horrible resolution of the camera, it was enough to make Hugh's heart stop.

The glare promised pain. It promised that the next person in his path would suffer more than just a Dark Pulse to the chest. And worst of all, to Hugh it was _so damn familiar._ Every time Hugh glimpsed at his reflection, when Team Plasma was on his mind, his own expression mirrored the one he had just seen on Cyrus's face. And it scared him. How far was Hugh from turning out just like that man?

Hugh found himself running out of the Poke-centre, searching for any signboards that would direct him to Snowpoint's gym. He needed to clear his head. And Hugh knew the best way to do so was to have a Pokémon battle.

-Pokemon-

Candice waited patiently, for the challenger to make his way to the room she was in. A few minutes ago, the sensor at her door had just scanned a person entering her gym from the main entrance. It had been so long since she had been challenged. The last challenger had been Dawn, and now she was Sinnoh's Champion. Therefore you couldn't exactly blame Candice if she had high expectations from the next challenger.

She decided to give the challenger another five minutes for tackling all the other trainers in the gym. Dawn had been able to beat all the other trainers in about ten minutes, a record time since Candice became a gym leader, and now twelve minutes had passed. She may have had high expectations of this challenger, but she had to be realistic. She couldn't expect the challenger right after Dawn to reach her just two minutes behind the Sinnoh champ's own record.

The electronic door to her room opened with a swish.

Huh, maybe she could.

When she took a good look at the trainer, she did a double take. He was accompanied with two Pokémon. A Shuppet flew innocently behind him, while a long green snake slithered in behind him, with its head held high. A Serperior, she noted, a species known exclusively to Unova. A foreign trainer, maybe?

After noting his Pokémon, she turned to get a good look at him and frowned. He looked distracted and introspective, his eyes shut as if trying to calm himself down. Slowly, the crease between his eyebrows relaxed and he finally opened his eyes. She was greeted by dark red eyes regarding her carefully. He may have been a boy, but he wasn't giving her a once over, like her other male opponents did once they realized that she was wearing a miniskirt. He just stared at her eyes and she stared back.

Breaking eye-contact, the trainer turned around to pet his Shuppet on the head before recalling it back into its Poke ball. He did the same to Serperior, but instead of petting it, he just gave it a nod and murmured something softly to it. The Serperior nodded back before going into its Poke ball. Only then did Candice realize that he must have used only the Shuppet and Serperior against the other trainers in the gym.

Her eyes widened. Normally, when she realized that a trainer used a grass type in an ice gym she would scoff. Which idiot did that? But she had seen the Serperior and it showed no sign of damage at all. He had just pitted a grass type against ice types (yes, multiple ice types) and it had come out unscathed. What kind of monster did that? She decided to ignore the fact that her predecessor had told her that Cynthia had accomplished a similar feat, beating the entire gym with nothing but her Garchomp, a Pokémon which had a 4x weakness against ice types, and a Roserade, another grass type.

Regaining her composure, she walked to the area designated for the gym leader to stand in during a fight. He seemed to get the message, and went over to the challenger's area. Normally, she would have welcomed him and told him that she hoped that he would put up a good fight. But this time she did neither, she could sense that he wasn't in the mood to talk.

Instead she pulled out a Poke ball and tossed it. Out came her Sneasel. He narrowed his eyes before choosing a Poke ball of his own. Out came a Bouffalant. The bovine dug his hoofs in the ground, kicking up dirt, obviously getting into the mood. The trainer also seemed to pick up on this and his eyes went from the dull maroon they were into dark crimson.

Candice fought to keep a smile off her face. The trainer finally seemed to be ready to fight. Then she realized she didn't even know his name. She crouched down getting into a more aggressive stance, as if she was the one fighting and not her Pokémon.

"Before we start can I ask you one thing?"

The trainer furrowed his brows obviously confused, and tilted his head in affirmation.

"What's your name? I never really got it, and it's nice to know the name of your opponent."

He seemed amused, but replied with short, clipped "Hugh."

And although she didn't need to she supplied her own name.

"Candice."

She felt incredibly stupid after saying that. He had just challenged her gym. Of course he knew her name.

"Well, nice to meet you, Candice."

Candice nearly goggled again. He actually sounded like he did not know her name. Which should be impossible.

"It would be kind of awkward if I didn't know your name by the end of this battle" he continued "You give me the gym badge and I say 'Thank you...' and then I realize that I still don't know your name. Yup. Awkward."

Candice continued staring at him. Apparently it was possible to not know that name of the Gym-Leader you were fighting. Still, what kind of idiot didn't know the name of Gym-leader he was fighting. _Obviously the really strong ones who are really sure that they are going to win,_ a helpful voice supplied, but she ignored it.

And then she realized that he implied that he was going to win. Was that thrash talk?

"Are you sure about you getting a gym badge?"

He grinned in a devil-may-care way. "We'll just have to wait and see."

It was thrash talk.

Oooooh. This battle is going to be fun.

-Pokemon-

The battle was not fun.

His Flygon twisted in the air, narrowly dodging the Ice beam her Abomasnow shot. Candice had to suppress a growl of frustration. Ever since his Simipour had knocked out her Frostlass, he had been playing with her.

Her Sneasel and Frostlass were out. His Shuppet was out. The same Shuppet he had just got a week prior. True, she had severely weakened his Bouffalant, and got a few hit on Simipour, but that was it. Not a single knock out of Pokémon he had on him for longer than a month.

She felt the urge to repeat. This battle was not fun. it was horribly one sided.

When he had sent out his Flygon, she had thought that he was just getting overconfident. Like Garchomp, Flygon had a 4x weakness to Ice. But she still couldn't use that weakness, ever since the dratted dragon came out, it was dodging each and every one of her ice beams.

She thought about using Avalanche, but Flygon was too high up in the air for the attack to hit. She could get a few Magical Leaves on him, but Flygon simply shrugged them off. She wished the bloody overpowered dragon would just freeze in hell.

And Hugh wasn't helping much. He refused to attack her as of now, and was simply content in seeing his Flygon fly circles around Abomasnow. She was sure that he thought that the fact that it also seemed to irritate her was also a plus. He just smiled which served to infuriate her more. He wasn't rude at all, not a single insult poured out from his mouth. But the grin was ever present on his face. The smug bastard was enjoying this too much.

"How about we make this interesting?"

Hugh voice was loud, affecting Candice a bit more than she would have liked, but she kept her cool. Or what was left of it.

"What do you propose? And if you say that if you win I have to go on a date with you, Hell. No."

Hugh grinned.

"Interesting proposition" he drawled, and Candice had to suppress the urge to hit him. Hard. When he had first come in the gym, she though he was a serious person, if not a bit uptight. Turned out all he needed was to get comfortable with the person before him. As the fight wore on, he seemed to get cockier. It was as if challenging gyms were a past-time for him.

Little did she know that he was strong enough to be a member of the Elite Four.

"But I was thinking about something a bit more professional." He continued "The loser has answer a question of the winners."

"Nothing too personal, I hope." She bit back through gritted teeth.

"Of course not. I wouldn't want you to reveal anything too personal. Everyone has their secrets."

Again he implied, that he was sure that he was going to win. But at the rate this battle was at, she wasn't sure that she could refute the claim.

"Fine. Ice Beam!"

Abomasnow shot out another pale blue beam, which his Flygon dodged again. Hugh finally narrowed his eyes as if he was about to get serious.

"Flygon? Fire Blast."

 _Oh shi-_

Candice wasn't able to finish her thought before a huge wave of fire shot out from Flygon's mouth.

"Abomasnow!" she cried out. But the huge Grass and Ice Type which had a 4x weakness to fire moves was knocked out.

Candice called back her Abomasnow and was surprised to see Hugh doing the same to Flygon. Candice selected her next Pokémon as Hugh did the same.

"Piloswine!"

"Simipour."

The two Pokémon shot out from their Pokeballs and landed facing each other. Well, Piloswine was facing her opponents backside. Simipour looked left and right, before realizing that he was facing the wrong direction. Grinning sheepishly, he turned to face Mamoswine. Behind him, Hugh pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Earthquake!"

Piloswine reared back onto its back legs and brought down his fore legs with enough force to send a huge shock wave though the ground. Simipour was knocked off his feet, but since he was a water type, the move did not knock him out. Coupled with the fact that Simipour had already received dome damage in his previous fight, Candice was pretty sure that Simipour would soon be knocked out.

Simipour quickly jumped up grinning madly at Piloswine, before turning to look at Hugh questioningly. Hugh nodded and confirmed the move Simipour thought that he would use.

"Hydro Pump."

Candice tried not to swear again, as a jet of water crashed into Piloswine knocking her Pokémon out again.

Hugh's second one hit K.O.

Gritting her teeth, Candice glared at Hugh who now was suddenly impassive again as his Pokémon disappeared back into its Poke ball.

Candice returned her own Pokémon to her Pokeball before glaring at Hugh and throwing him a badge. Hugh's hand shot out to grab it. Pocketing it he turned back to Candice.

"Tell me about Team Galactic and Lake Acuity."

Candice had to blink, before she actually understood his question.

"Uh... I don't know much. All I know is that Team Galactic was after Uxie, The legendary Pokémon of Lake Acuity."

He continued staring at her as waiting for more information. But as soon as he realized that she would not be giving any more information, he nodded and walked away.

Candice narrowed her eyes at his back as he left the way he came.

"Why do you want to know about Team Galactic?"

Hugh stopped and glanced at her behind her back, and Candice suddenly felt like she was witnessing the start of something very, very catastrophic.

He regarded her coolly before replying, "Family reasons." With that, he turned around and walked out.

Idly, Candice realized that she was shivering.

They had given her a number after the entire Team Galactic Fiasco had been cleared up. They asked her to call if they caught any whisper of Team Galactic again. This counted as a situation in which she had to call them, didn't it?

Slowly she pulled out her own X-Transeiver and dialled the number.

"Hello, Looker?"

* * *

I beleive I still got a bit to dramatic while writing this. I guess its kind of the effect of watching too much Naruto. 

Hope you enjoyed.

Read and Reveiw.

Peace.

-ProdigyPsycho


	4. Eterna City (Visit)

The lone figure made his way though Route 216, gritting his teeth against the cold. What he wouldn't give for a Magby right now. Being small, he would easily be able to carry the Pokémon and since it was a fire type, it would be very, very warm.

Sadly, Hugh did _not_ have a Magby.

Grimacing, Hugh continued onwards with his journey. It had been nearly a week since he had left Snowpoint City. On one hand, he was glad for the lack of people. No people meant that there was no one to stare at him like he was offending them by just existing. But on the other hand, a small sadistic part of him wished that there were other people suffering with him.

He frowned. _Bad Hugh._ He should not wish suffering on other people. He frowned again. Talking to himself was the first sign of him turning insane.

He also tried to ignore the fact that if he was Cyrus, he'd also have the same sadistic thoughts.

-Pokemon-

"Hello? Is this Palmer?"

"Yep. Who's thi-"

"I am known as Looker, working for the International Police. We need your help in apprehending a powerful trainer. Would you agree to help us?"

"..."

"Hello? Mr Palmer? Are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. I'm just surprised that you're calling me. Is no-one else available? I mean, you are part of the International Police."

"Although all them have been notified about him, he is too powerful for Gym-Leaders to take on, and the Elite Four are currently busy with the sudden influx of trainers challenging them. Currently, we cannot contact the Champion, as she is currently out of Sinnoh."

"... How powerful of a trainer is he? Last I checked, the Gym Leaders were no pushovers."

"Before coming to Sinnoh, he competed in the Unova League. He was able to beat 2 Elite Four members, before being defeated. It can be easily deduced that only extremely experienced trainers, like yourself, would be able to match up to him."

"...That's pretty strong."

"Indeed Mr Palmer. He is _pretty_ strong. So will you aid us?"

-Pokemon-

From the mouth of the cave that led into Mt Coronet a lone figure emerged. His normally spiky hair was a mess, and his clothes and face were stained with dirt. He wavered a bit before leaning against the wall of the cave.

In the distance, he could see Eterna City. Much like his own hometown, Eterna was a city that slowly melted into a forest. The only reason he did not mistake it for Aspertia City was because the buildings weren't as cramped as the Unovan town. And unlike Aspertia, this one had a giant statue of the Pokémon that the people of this region considered as gods.

Hugh slowly made his way towards the city, stopping completely before the statue. It depicted the legendary Pokémon Palkia and Dialga, both locked in combat. Hugh took a step back to admire the statue. Even though they were stationary, both Pokémon radiated power. _Space and Time._ Hugh could understand why people called these Pokémon legendary.

Shaking his head, Hugh turned away and made his way towards the Poke-centre. He wasn't here for the sights.

He was here for his father.

-Pokemon-

The next day, Hugh decided to visit the prison. At first, Hugh wondered why the hell a prison was this close to a populated area. If there ever was a breakout, the prisoners could easily enter Eterna City. When he finally reached the Prison, he found out why.

The Prison was formerly known as the Haunted Mansion. That itself helped it being a veritable fortress. The mere reputation of the place forced the prisoners to remain in their cells. If any of the prisoners ever got out of their cells and evaded all patrols, there was always a chance that they would run into the wild Ghastly and Haunter.

It's location was another reason why it was regarded as one of the most secure prison in the Pokémon world. Being in the depths of Eterna Forest, in addition to the guards and the ghastly, prisoners also had a forest, full of wild forest Pokémon, to look out for. It also didn't help that the entire forest was extremely easy to get lost in.

This time, while venturing out, Hugh, bought a black beanie and sunglasses to hide his face. It did make him look like a rapper, but now fewer people looked at him with narrow eyes. The ones who did were elderly citizens that did not like rap.

Their loss.

He picked his way through the forest, gingerly avoiding the tree branches. Since this was a secluded area, not many people came to visit the inmates, but there were exceptions. Finally he found himself at the doors of the ex-Mansion.

The International Police really had made a lot of modifications to the place. Walls were still crumbling, but years of being a trainer allowed him to notice small things in the terrain. Like the fact that all the weak walls were reinforced with steel within their crumbling facade. This made it look like a haunted area, yet it did not allow those with no fear from the supernatural to escape.

He made his way into the Halls of the mansions searching for the help desk. He found it and went up to it. The officer there was busy on one of the computer systems.

Hugh waited until he was done. When the officer finally noticed Hugh, he turned to face the boy.

"May I help you."

The fact that Hugh could see the officer reaching for the poke-ball on his belt did not calm Hugh down. This is a prison after all. And Hugh was dressed up to cover his face. The guard could afford to be suspicious.

"I'd like to see a prisoner."

The guard raised an eyebrow at this, noticing that Hugh said 'prisoner', rather than the more polite 'inmate'. This meant that the kid thought that the person he was visiting deserved to be in prison. Or maybe the kid knew about that and was just playing mind games. Paranoia was part and parcel of being inducted into the International Police.

"I'll need Identification and some details."

Hugh handed his Trainer I.D over the guard, who looked at it carefully and then back to Hugh. Satisfied, the guard handed over the Trainer I.D and a register. Quirking an eyebrow, Hugh picked up a nearby pen and filled out the details, which included his name, hometown, and contact number. Hugh quickly wrote down the details (putting in his X-transceiver number as his contact) and handed the register back.

"Now who would you like to see?"

High didn't even pause to think.

"Saturn."

-Pokemon-

The guard watched Hugh's retreating form as the blue haired boy walked up to cell he was directed to. All officers in Sinnoh were informed that there was a person asking around about Team Galactic, and the Police did not want to take any chances. Team Galactic was one of the most evil organizations around the world (they did try to destroy the world after all).

If someone was showing an interest in them, that had a high possibility of something being afoot. You could not miss a step when it came to Team Galactic.

So after Hugh was well out of earshot, the guard picked up the phone.

"Hello, HQ?"

-Pokemon-

"So they said you wanted to meet me."

Hugh glanced around at the room he was in. One could make out traced that the room had once been grand. What with the painted wall covered with fading paint and the antique candle holder along the walls. But the now dirty decorations just gave the place a spookier feel. The windows that once had glass that was tastefully decorated along the edges now had thick metal bars across them to prevent any escape attempts. The furniture in there was Spartan, the room only had a wooden cot and a single chair.

Hugh turned back to look at the person across him that was occupying said cot. Dirty hair that had once been blue, nearly the same shade as Hugh's own hair, was strewn across the man's face. Now it was partially Brown, with streaks of blue remaining, obviously the hair had been coloured a long time ago. Dark blue intelligent eyes stared back at Hugh's maroon ones.

"I'm searching for Cyrus." High finally started. This seemed to startle the man, but Hugh continued without letting the man talk.

"I know that 4 years ago, Cyrus tried to take control of the Legendary Pokémon Dialga and Palkia. To do that, he went to Spear Pillar. That is the last that was seen of him. People have speculated what happened there, some say he died, some say he escaped, some say that he was taken away by the two legendaries, but that is all speculation. I want to know what happened up there. The only people there were the ex-champion Cynthia, the current champion Dawn, Cyrus himself, and three of his commanders. Both champions are currently unavailable. The only commander of his available is you. So tell me, what happened up on Spear Pillar?"

Saturn regarded the entire speech with nothing more than contempt, but now he leaned forward, as if contemplating something.

"What's in it for me?"

Hugh was perfectly blunt in his answer.

"Nothing."

Saturn barked out a harsh laugh, looking around the room to see if this was a joke. Hugh continued regarding him silently, waiting for him to speak. Leaning forward again he asked "Nothing for me, eh? Then why the hell should I tell you?" narrowing his eyes, Saturn continued with another question."Why are you so interested in Cyrus? What does he have to do with you?"

The two had a mild staring contest, neither willing to speak until, "I'm his son."

Saturn gave out a mocking laugh, Hugh appeared non-plussed.

"Does the name Pluto ring any bells?"

Saturn abruptly stopped laughing, glaring at Hugh with narrowed eyes until he finally accepted the fact. Slowly his eyes widened, as the revelation struck him.

"You really are his son."

It wasn't a question. Hugh merely tilted his head in acknowledgement.

"You aren't lying."

"Never said I was."

The two stared at each other, while Saturn tried to wrap his head around the fact that his _leader's_ son had come to him. Hugh on the other hand was getting tired of watching Saturn keep his mouth half opened.

"Look here." Hugh said leaning forward " I just learned that my father is one of the most wanted criminals in Sinnoh two months ago, and I have a lot of questions for him. I'm asking you this as Cyrus's son. If you ever respected the man, please, just _tell_ me what happened on Spear Pillar."

Hugh finished his tirade staring deeply into Saturn's eyes. The prisoner had his mouth clenched into a firm line. Finally, sighing, he said, "Fine. On Spear Pillar, Cyrus tried to take control of the legendaries by using a Red Chain, forged using the three Lake Guardians. When Dialga and Palkia did appear, their sheer power tore a rift in Space and Time, opening a portal to another dimension. Cyrus, Cynthia and Dawn were sucked into the portal. That's all I know. After that I ran away. Cynthia and Dawn made it back, but I'm guessing Cyrus is still stuck there, in that other dimension."

Saturn finished with a huff of breath, leaning backwards. Hugh was still focused on Saturn, his eyes unreadable. The silence grew in the air for a few moments. Abruptly, Hugh stood up.

"Thank you."

By his tone, Saturn knew that he was just following social convention, and was not thanking him in any way. So he did not respond. Instead he just sat there and watched his leader's son walk away.

* * *

Well i still haven't toned down on the drama. I think that is going into _lost cause_ territory. Damn it. I might have made a few spelling mistakes here, so i would be graateful if you pointed them out if you ever came across them. Thanks!

Hope you enjoyed

Read and Review.

-ProdigyPsycho


	5. Lost Tower (Battle)

"Hello?"

"It's me."

"Hi Nate. What's up?"

"Nothing much, other than finding out my best friend has become a criminal in Sinnoh."

"... Oh. ... You heard about that?..."

"Yes."

"Ah...That's nice."

"..."

"..."

"WHAT THE HELL HUGH?! WHY THE HELL DOES THE POLICE WANT YOU?! YOU LI-"

"It wasn't my fault."

"-TTLE PEICE OF- What?"

"It wasn't my fault."

"..."

"..."

"So the police what you for no apparent reason."

"Not really. I was just asking around for information about my dad."

"Huh? Isn't your dad back here in Unova?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I'm adopted."

"You're adopted."

"Yeah."

"..."

"..."

"You know, you really shouldn't drop these kinds of bombs on me."

"Sorry."

"..."

"..."

"So why is asking around for your dad making the police come after you?"

"That's probably because my dad kind of tried to destroy the world using the legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh a few years ago."

"..."

"..."

"Why don't you tell them that you're innocent of any crime?"

"That's because I'm digging too deep for them to not take an interest in me. I tried telling them I wasn't going to destroy the world, but they don't believe me."

*sigh* "I'll be there in a week; I'll meet up with you in Veilstone City."

"Thank you."

"I am too old for this shit."

"You're 16"

"Shut up."

* * *

This was ridiculous

How the hell did they know where he was?

Hugh had tried going the long way to Veilstone City, through Hearthrome City, as Route 210 was filled with agents searching for him when he tried going there. While travelling through Mt. Coronet to reach Hearthrome, he encountered more agents looking for him. Thankfully, he was able to slip past them using the darkness inside the mountain.

In Hearthrome, he blended in with the crowd, but at all times he could see members of the International Police walking through the streets of the city, looking for him. This time he ditched his red jacket and found a more subdued black one to avoid detection.

Right now, he was on Route 209, hiding in the Lost Tower, waiting for the police to leave. A light mist hung in the air, adding to the creepy atmosphere of the place. Hugh picked his way around the Pokémon graves, trying very not to step on one and desecrate their souls. He did not need the departed after him too, although Shuppet could help drive them away.

"Luxio! Use Discharge!"

Hugh had barely a moment to jump out of the way of the powerful electric attack. When he had the opportunity to look up he saw a single agent behind a Luxio that was growling at him. Hugh was under the impression that they wanted to capture him. Not kill him. Apparently they changed their minds. Hugh eyes narrowed, and bared his teeth as a sign of aggression. He had it with just avoiding them now. He sent out his Bouffalant

If they wanted a fight, they got a fight.

* * *

"Dammit!"

The yells of the agents that were sent flying could be heard even over the din of the battle. By now, Hugh had lost count of how many people had been airborne directly or indirectly because of him. The number started getting hazy somewhere between fifteen and seventeen. And that was a minute ago. Right now his Bouffalant was snorting angrily and pawing the ground.

Hugh could keep going. He knew that, his Pokémon knew that, hell, even the police knew that. _So why the hell were they trying so hard?_ Hugh knew for a fact that they weren't trying this hard for any apparent reason. The only reason the blue haired boy could think of that they were doing this was because _they were the distractions._ They sure as hell weren't newbie trainers that believed in the saying 'Mindless repetition will bring you success'. If they did have a trump card, he did not have the will to face it. And besides, beating up random grunts (he hated comparing them to Team Plasma Grunts) wouldn't let him accomplish anything.

Bouffalant glanced back at him and seemed to get the message. With a last swing of his head, knocking an Umbreon straight into its trainer, He turned and ran straight to Hugh. The trainer sidestepped the charging beast, grabbed hold of one of Bouffalant's horn, and rode the Pokémon as it charged up the stairs.

Floor after floor, the Bouffalant passed by, until it stood at the roof of the tower. There, the trump card the Police apparently had was waiting for him. Hugh wasn't very impressed with it. He was more impressed after said trump card sent out their first Pokémon.

"Regigas! Use Crush Grip!"

Hugh jumped off the Bouffalant, and skid to a halt, as his Pokémon swerved out of the way of the opponent's attack. Hugh glanced up to his own opponent's eyes. Blonde hair. Brown eyes. A victorious smirk settled on his face as he met Hugh's glare. His long green cloak fluttered in the raging winds at the top of the Tower. Scowling, Hugh turned back to his own Pokémon.

"Head Charge!"

That smirk vanished from his opponent's face as Bouffalant crashed into the Regigigas, causing it to stagger a few steps as it tried to regain its footing. Hugh smirked. Bouffalant jumped back to get out of Regigigas's range, seeming unhurt. Thank God for Reckless. Blondie's (Yes, He was going to call him Blondie as he did not have a name. Even if he did, Blondie would stick.) eyes hardened.

"Earthquake!"

Regigigas slammed his hands into the ground, causing it to tremble violently. Hugh bit back a curse. Which idiot used that on a Tower which could easily collapse? Blondie apparently did. Bouffalant tripped over itself, but immediately got up. Although his Pokémon didn't show it, Hugh knew it was hurt. Scowling, Hugh recalled His Pokémon, and rummaged through his belt for its replacement as fast as he could, but he didn't need to worry. Blondie and Regigigas stood there patiently.

Judging from the fact that Blondie didn't do anything, Hugh was fairly confident that Blondie wasn't part of the International Police. Judging from the strength of his Pokémon, Blondie was probably a member of the Elite Four (Sure as hell wasn't a Champion as Hugh remembered reading somewhere that the Champion was a 17 year old girl. Blondie was definitely not 17. He wasn't going to comment about his gender, just to be spiteful).

"That's a pretty powerful Bouffalant you got there." Blondie remarked, keeping his eyes fixed on Hugh. At the comment Hugh couldn't help the rush of pride he felt.

"Thanks."

Hugh finally found the Pokeballs. He was looking for. The one in his left, he hid behind his back. The other he tossed in front. Out came his Serperior. Blondie didn't react at all, other that narrowing his eyes.

"You seem pretty curious about Team Galactic. Why are you after Cyrus?"

Hugh narrowed his own eyes back. "Question for a question." He bargained. The two glared at each other, a battle of their wills until Blondie gave up.

"Fine."

Hugh grinned. Serperior shot forward. "Dragon Tail!" Instead of avoiding it, Regigigas just stood there, waiting for the attack to come. When it did, its huge hand just shot out and grabbed the tail. Hugh's eyes widened. _What the hell?_ It didn't even feel anything. The huge Pokémon tossed the smaller one back, which landed softly, not taking any damage.

"I'm still waiting for an answer."

"Would you believe me if I told you that I just wanted to meet my father?" Hugh spit back. Blondie seemed a bit taken aback.

"Woah. Seriously?" Hugh felt the urge to snort. He did not take Blondie for a person who used the word 'woah'. Blondie continued studying Hugh. "Okay, I think I see it. You two do look pretty alike. I mean, the mean glare, the spiky hair. The sunny personality." Hugh snarled at the last comment. Blondie continued onwards "True, it doesn't seem like you are going to try to get into trouble. But I'm going to have to ask you to stop searching for him. If you know where he is, you'll know why."

Hugh did know why. According to the information Hugh had been able to get, Cyrus was trapped inside the 'Distortion Dimension' which scientists said that was caused by the chaotic interaction between Space and Time. Dialga and Palkia. Trying to get those two was a huge no-no in Sinnoh. And apparently, both were caught by trainers. The reigning Sinnoh Champion and a close friend of hers.

Still, Hugh wasn't ready to go down without a fight. Giving Goldie a feral grin, Hugh shot back "I do know why. And you know what? I don't care. My turn. How are you people tracking me?"

Blondie grinned at Hugh. "How do you think? It does help that you use you X-Transceiver ever so often."

He didn't have time to react to that information. _Prioritize._ He stored that bit of information at the back of his head, and returned his focus to the battle. Hugh growled again before yelling to his Pokémon. "Serperior! Go!"

The serpentine Pokémon shot forward, but instead of jumping up for another attack, it stayed low. Regigigas tried swiping at the grass type, but it dodged and continued moving ahead. Under its legs, around its waist, perfect.

"Hyper Beam!"

A blast of pure energy caught Regigigas at point-blank range, straight in the face. Ouch. That would leave a mark. Blondie's eyes widened.

"Regigigas! No! Use-"

But Blondie wasn't able to finish the command. Hugh sprinted forward, jumped up and socked Blondie straight in the jaw. Blondie staggered back, clearly not expecting it. Not slowing down, Hugh recalled Serperior and tossed the other Pokeball to reveal his Flygon, which flew ahead. Hugh continued sprinting ahead.

"Stop them Regigigas! Use Stone Edge!"

Chunks of Rock flew at the sprinting figure, but years on the road, gave Hugh physical conditioning. The type of conditioning where he could run and dodge a Pokémon attack at the same time. Reaching the edge, Hugh jumped off the Tower, his Flygon following him in a sharp dive.

Feeling his trainer land on him, Flygon leveled out and flew away. As the Tower receded from them, Hugh spared it a glance. Blondie was at the edge and _was that a grin on his face?_ Hugh could understand the sentiment. Blondie was a strong trainer. But Hugh was strong too. And now, Blondie knew that too. That last battle proved it. And it had been a while since Hugh battled that hard. Blondie probably felt the same way.

Hugh couldn't help grinning back.

* * *

Palmer stood there, watching as the distant speck the Flygon was, disappear into the distance. Fittingly enough, the sun was setting, giving the sky a warm orange glow. The kid was spunky, he had to give him that.

It was an idea he'd been toying around in the last few minutes. Argetna had told him a few weeks ago that she wanted to retire. Age creeps up on us all, she said. The Hugh kid was everything a Frontier Brain needed to be. Tough, good with Pokémon, creative (Oh yeah, that last punch HURT), and not afraid to fight overwhelming odds. All in all, a strong trainer.

But maybe not right now. Palmer would wait until this entire mess sorted itself out before going down that road. He was shaken from his thoughts when his phone rang.

"What happened?"

The voice wasn't judgmental, but Palmer couldn't help feeling a bit slighted.

"He surprised me, that's all. It won't happen again."

Looker stayed quiet for a few moments.

"Make sure that it doesn't"

The call cut off.

Palmer glanced at his phone in mild exasperation. His thoughts went back to toying with the idea of Argetna's successor. Palmer struggled not to groan. The thought was getting more and more addictive by the moment. Finally, he made up his mind. He knew where Hugh was going, courtesy of listening on his calls. A bit of help wouldn't be too unappreciated, wouldn't it?

Palmer dialed in another number and waited for a response.

"Hey Barry. ... Yeah, everything is fine here. ... Yeah, I was wondering if you could do me a favor. ...You know about Argetna, right? ... Yeah, I found a candidate. ... No, it's not you. Besides, I though you wanted to be the next Tower Tycoon. Anyway, I was wondering if you could meet up with him? ... He'll be heading for Veilstone City. ... Yeah. ... Oh yeah, he's also meeting up with the Unova champ, so we're even. ... Yup, I know I'm the best. ... Thanks. Bye..."

After the call, He couldn't help but feel that small burst of excitement deep down build up.

* * *

"... Thanks Nate."

With that, Hugh shut off his X-Transceiver, his thoughts fighting against each other. _It was a piece of tech, easily replaceable. And it's a liability._ He tried convincing himself. But that small emotional part of him didn't want to do it. If he did that act, it would be committing himself to the cause of finding his father. No matter the consequences. Did he really want to risk that?

Hugh continued staring at his X-Transceiver for some time before giving a sigh.

He tossed it over Flygon's side.

He did not look back.

* * *

Well that was fun. At least that last battle with Palmer was. Oh yeah, I don't have a beta-reader so, if any of you happen to find a mistake in there, don't hesitate to call me out on it.

Hope you enjoyed!

Read and Review.

Peace out.

-ProdigyPsycho


	6. Distortion World (Confrontation)

I am back! Sorry for taking so long to post again, circumstances prevented me from doing so earlier.

* * *

"Ha Ha! I Win! Who's awesome? I am."

"Shut up Barry, you were just lucky this time."

"Just like I was lucky for the last 5 times? Admit it. I'm awesome. Bow down to your supreme commander."

"Shut up Blondie-spawn. You too Nate. The two of you are giving me a migraine. And why are we here anyway?"

The three of them were currently at Veilstone City's Game Corner. Barry and Nate had been facing off against each other in _Digital Sniper_ for the last 1 hour, and Hugh was sitting on a nearby bench, wondering why all his friends were idiots.

Barry smirked at Hugh, putting on his goggles in an attempt to look like a seasoned pilot. Sadly, due to the fact that he was the same age as Hugh and had a fear of heights ("It isn't a fear of heights! It's just that the low air pressure up here makes me lightheaded") he was failing badly. "My dear boy," Barry clucked disapprovingly "This is Veilstone City! You cannot be in Veilstone City without visiting the Game Corner! It's part of the experience."

Hugh gave him a dry stare, which after a few seconds proved effective in shutting the blonde up. Hugh gave a sigh, wishing that they would leave already. The Police probably knew where he was. Blondie (Palmer, Barry had told him, but Blondie would forever remain Blondie) said that the police were tracking him using his X-Transceiver, but Hugh did not know if they were listening in on his calls. But it was better to be safe rather than sorry, and Hugh was really starting to hate the place.

"Can we please go?"

"Nuh uh! We aren't leaving till I beat Barry! Die Blondie-spawn Die!"

With that Nate let out an enraged yell and started pounding the buttons, yet somehow still lost. Yet again.

"Hugh!" Nate wailed "The mean guy is picking on me."

Hugh was trying very hard not to kill his best friend. (" _Kill him!" "No." "Why not?" "Then the police will have an actual reason to pursue me." "But, they already are!" "So what? A good Hugh does not kill his best friend." "You're boring." "We are the same person." "Shut up.")_ Then he was hit by inspiration.

"If I play by proxy for you and beat him, then can we go?"

Nate blinked staring at Hugh.

"Err.. Sure."

Finally, they were going to be leaving. Hugh picked up the controller.

-Pokémon-

"That should not be possible! How can a complete newbie kill me 28 times in 10 minutes?! I didn't even get him once!"

Hugh sighed, trying to disperse the gull throbbing in his head. Nate and Barry were a few steps behind him, still discussing Barry's embarrassing defeat at the arcade. And that had been five hours ago. The trio were inside Mt Coronet again, travelling to this place called Spear Pillar. According to Barry, they had to be at Spear Pillar if they wanted to try entering the Distortion Dimension. But first, Barry insisted that they meet up with one of his friends. ("Trust me that will be important")

Hugh really didn't see the point in meeting Barry's friend. If he was anything like Barry, Hugh was sure that he would probably go crazy. Hugh thought back to the first time he met Barry. On a completely unrelated note, the first time Hugh felt like punching him in the face was five seconds after that. ("Arceus! It's a mini-Cyrus!")

As much as Hugh didn't like Barry, he knew that in order to reach his father, Barry was needed. Barry did have Dialga with him. And Barry did know how to reach Spear Pillar, so Hugh pushed down all the violent impulses he felt.

Finally, Barry found his friend.

"Lucas!"

The boy turned around to look at the source. Like Barry, his eyes were brown, but instead of blonde hair, his was brown, neatly combed, and tucked under a red cap. He was clothed in a jacket and trousers that covered most of his body. Hugh could understand that, Sinnoh was a bit cooler than Unova.

"Barry!"

A smile lit up Lucas's face. The two ran towards each other to meet up, Hugh and Nate followed closely behind. After greetings between the two were exchanged, Lucas turned to examine Barry's compatriots.

When Lucas came to Hugh, he paused, blinked a few times, and turned to Barry.

"Why do you have a clone of Cyrus?"

Nate had to physically restrain Hugh from punching the lights out of Professor Rowan's assistant.

-Pokémon-

A few hours and an entire explanation later ("So... Mini-Cyrus wants to talk to actual-Cyrus, because mini-Cyrus has Daddy issues." "That about sums it up." "I hate you Nate."), the group of four found themselves at Spear-Pillar. Hugh thought it wasn't that impressive. He really didn't know what the big fuss was about the place. All he could see was uneven stone slabs for the floor and a few shattered pillars surrounding them. The pillars weren't even fancy. They were the regular type of pillars which could be found in any museum. But Hugh wasn't an architect or an archaeologist, so what did he know?

Nate glanced around. "So this is the place? Where's the entrance?"

Barry chuckled, shooting Lucas a sidelong glance "There isn't any entrance here. We make one." Nate's brow furrowed. "So why here? Is this the magical meeting point of space and time so the portal can only be made here, or because there is a lot of residual Poke-energy which helps sustain it."

This time Barry looked at Lucas. "You answer that; you are the Professor's assistant after all."

Lucas eyed everyone in the room, his features losing all the mirth they had from before. Similarly, the laughter drained from everyone's faces as they waited the oncoming answer. Nate actually gulped before leaning a bit forward.

Lucas took a deep breath and spoke.

"Both guesses are wrong. It's because of something much more important than that. It's because of...Dramatic Tension."

This time, Barry and Nate followed Hugh's lead in beating up the fourth member of their group.

-Pokémon-

When Lucas could stand up again, the group made the decision to stop fooling around and create to portal.

"So what do we do?" Hugh asked looking at Barry. Instead, Lucas answered. "You and Nate are doing nothing. Barry and I will handle this." With that, Lucas tried giving him and assuring thumbs up as he pulled out a poke-ball. In a different scenario, the action might have been assuring, but the visible swelling of Lucas' right cheek diminished the effect. Behind him Barry shrugged, pulling out a poke-ball of his own.

Both boys threw the capsules and the pokémon within them, were revealed. One, a quadruped, with plates of metal covering its blue body, much like armour would, gave a loud roar. The second, a biped this time, with light pink lines running across its pearl-while body, followed suit. All in all, the effect was pretty damn effective.

"Mortals, meet Dialga and Palkia, the Titans of Space and Time. Have you ever seen another Pokémon as awe-inducing as these?"

"Err, Barry, both of us have seen Dawn's Arceus." Lucas supplied helpfully.

"Oh yeah, Hugh? Zekrom and Reshiram could give these two a run for their money, right?" Nate chimed in.

"Nate has a Kyurem. Enough said."

By the end of everyone's comments, Barry had deflated comically, leaving Nate chuckling and Lucas shaking his head patronizingly. Hugh just wished they would get past the theatrics and open the portal. When no one reacted, Hugh cleared his throat.

"Shall we?"

-Pokémon-

Hugh gingerly stepped onto the blue-gray ground of the distortion world and turned back to look at his companions, who peeped at him from behind the inter-dimensional rift. Hugh was raised an eyebrow as an invitation to the three, silently asking them if they wanted to come. (No, Hugh was not scared of being here alone. Don't be absurd)

Barry and Lucas glanced at each other and back at Hugh before fearfully shaking their heads. Nate, on the other hand, placed his arm on his hips and gave Hugh what was supposed to be a stern look.

"Oh no, don't even think about it. As your self-proclaimed psychologist, you need to resolve your daddy-issues in private."

Although vaguely insulting, Hugh gave a curt nod and an almost smile before turning around and walking ahead. Nate knew that Hugh needed to do this alone. Hugh never really was one to display his emotions in front of spectators. And Hugh had a lot of 'unburdening' to do. As for the entire 'emotional support' concept? The message was clear. _You don't need the emotional support. You are strong enough._

Hugh felt a warm tingly feeling in his gut. The small gesture really showed how deep the friendship between them was. It was almost like having a brother. Hugh felt a burst of affection for Nate. (No, Hugh was not gay. No matter what the gossip column he read when he was back in Unova said.)

As Hugh walked away, he heard Nate regale the other two with tales about a four-year-old Hugh that wet his bed. Immediately, the affection was killed. Hugh did have a deep friendship with the idiot. But that didn't stop Hugh from mentally referring to Nate as an idiot. He wasn't a liar after all.

And when the small rock from the distortion world flew out of the portal and hit Nate squarely on the head, Barry and Lucas were not really surprised. A year of tossing poke-balls around did help improve your aim.

-Pokémon-

An hour into the journey, Hugh found signs of the existence of another trainer. The footprints. Soot from a fire type move. Cracks in the ground. Broken boulders.

He was getting close.

The changing gravity fields did throw him off a bit. It was disorientating to jump and find yourself dragged into a direction away from the ground, but a few minutes after entering the Distortion Dimension, he got the hang of it.

Hugh slowly made his way through the increasing destruction that was most probably caused by Pokemon training. Judging from the sheer power behind some of the moves, as the evidence suggested, Cyrus was really a strong trainer. Hugh already knew so, but this just reinforced the fact.

 _Good._

 _All the better when I fight him._

Suddenly Hugh heard a poke-ball pop open from behind him. He barely had time to jump out of the way, before a huge fireball struck the area Hugh was in a few seconds earlier. Going straight into a roll to soften his landing on another surface in a different gravitational field, Hugh spun around, a poke-ball finding its way into Hugh's hand, as his eyes landed on the person who nearly killed him.

Standing behind his Houndoom, Cyrus stared passively at Hugh. Cold gray eyes taking in the details, arms crossed imposingly.

"Who are you?"

Hugh felt his body tremble, not in fear, but in pure anger as he stood before his biological father. Hugh wanted to just run up there and _rip those fricking eyeballs out,_ but he knew it would be suicide. The Houndoom would easily make him a roasted human ("Barbe-Hugh", his mind supplied helpfully. "You know, because of barbecue an Hu-""Shut up.")

Instead, he restrained himself and slowly stood up from his crouch. He forced his own eyes to meet Cyrus's. Maroon, almost red, met cold blue-gray. ( "Fire and ice. Poetic, isn't it?""Shut up.""That's getting a bit repetitive.""I just met the dude who abandoned me when I was a baby.""...I guess that doesn't encourage a positive attitude.""No. It doesn't")

Hugh could reply with a 'Hugh', But he doubted Cyrus remembered his name. So instead he went for a "The package you left with Pluto."

His eyes lit up in recognition.

"Hugh..." he muttered softly.

So he did remember.

Cyrus' features lost most of their hardness, as she gazed at Hugh with something akin to fondness. Hugh finds that he hates that look. Cyrus all but _abandoned_ him as a child and now he was looking at him like that and _he was just not supposed to!_ When Hugh imagined meeting Cyrus, he thought it would be clipped short conversation, maybe an explosion of rage, a fierce Pokémon battle where one of them get seriously injured while the other walks away. It was _not supposed to have that look on Cyrus' face!_

Cyrus opened his mouth to say something, but Hugh cut him off.

"Shut up."

Cyrus opened his mouth again, this time a bit of confusion lacing his features, but Hugh cut him off again by throwing out his poke-ball revealing a Simipour, it's normally quirky features twisted into a snarl.

"Shut up."

Cyrus tried again, a hint of desperation creeping in this time, but this Hugh all but screamed at him.

" _Shut up!"_

Cyrus recoiled as if struck across the face, but soon his features morphed into one of understanding and immediately following that, total indifference.

Both Pokémon glared at each other. Their trainers' followed suit. One, with a mask of total indifference, the other, with his frame shuddering with barely concealed rage.

When given the command, both Pokémon went into battle.

* * *

And that's a wrap. Like all other chapters, this isn't beta-ed, so there will be a few mistakes. If you do find them, please point them out. (I really need a beta, but the story is nearly over so...)

Hope you enjoyed!

Read and Reveiw!

-ProdigyPsycho


	7. Distortion World (Meeting a Legend)

Right. Sorry for the extremely long hiatus, but life was a real pain. Also, I had a lot of story ideas bouncing around in my head. Anyway, I may be a bit rusty in this chapter. Hope you don't mind.

* * *

Serperior jumped up and let itself get caught in the gravitational field of another huge rock that was floating about. Gyrados followed suit, trying to maul Hugh's Serperior in the process. Serperior quickly moved out of the way, causing the Gyrados to crash into the boulder, releasing a large plume of dust and.

"Iron tail!"

Serperior's tail glowed white with the energy she pushed into it and then it slammed into the Gyrados that burst out of the dust cloud sending it flying away. ("Home run!" "I'm having a dramatic battle here! Could you please shut up?" "Never!")

Hugh waited for the Gyrados to attack again, and he wasn't disappointed. It sped back, Hugh counting down the seconds mentally, waiting for the perfect moment until-

"Hyper Beam!"

A blast of energy shot out from Serperior's mouth straight towards the large blue serpentine creature. Gyrados didn't miss a beat. Twisting its body, somehow Gyrados spun out of the way of the Hyper Beam and continued its course for Serperior, who couldn't do anything because of the recharge time for Hyper Beam. ("Which words are you looking for? Are they 'Damn it'?" "Thank you.")

"Crunch."

Hugh could do nothing but watch as Gyrados crashed into Serperior and clamped its jaws around the green snake's tail as both of them flew off the boulder tangentially. Spinning around once, Gyrados flung Serperior straight into the wall Hugh and Cyrus were standing on.

"Aerial Ace."

Gyrados shifted trajectory and with a speed that shouldn't be possible with its size, it turned and crashed into Serperior. There was no way his Pokémon survived that. Hugh swore again as he recalled his Pokémon.

All he had had was his Shuppet and Eelektross. And he sure as hell wasn't going to send out Shuppet. It wasn't powerful enough. Normally, he would have no compunctions against sending out his electric type, but Eelektross had next to no energy left. One hit, even if it wasn't very effective, would wipe him out. But there wasn't any other choice Hugh had.

Gritting his teeth together, Hugh sent out his final Pokémon. It came out and gave a garbled battle cry. Hugh's frown almost went away when he saw the effort his Pokémon were willing to give for him. And there was no way Hugh knew to pay them back.

Setting his eyes on his opponent, Hugh's eyes narrowed. After the last attack, Gyrados had moved in between Hugh and Cyrus and was awaiting the next battle. It was panting and scratches littered its once lustrous blue scales. It was injured badly, but not yet ready to back down. Both Pokémon would go down in one hit. The question was which Pokémon would go down first.

"Eelekross, Thunderbolt!" Gyrados slithered out of the way, and shot towards Eelektross, giving a roar.

"Hydro Pump." Eelektross flew out of the way, and roared right back.

"Thunderbolt! Again!" This time, Eelekross took its time in aiming at the fast approaching Gyrados, electric sparks coating his body. Cyrus saw this and Hugh could tell he did not want to give Eelektross the time so he yelled out "Aerial Ace!"

Eelekross released the bolt and it crashed straight into Gyrados, but not before it put on its burst of speed. It may have been knocked out, but its body crashing into Eelektross could still be considered an attack.

Both Pokémon were out.

Cyrus recalled his Pokémon and watched Hugh. Hugh ignored him, looking straight at the limp form of his Pokémon before recalling it. Then he continued staring at the same spot. After a few seconds of the heavy atmosphere, Cyrus broke the silence.

"You have your mother's eyes..."

Hugh turned back to look at his father so fast that he got whiplash. After months of being compared to Cyrus, the man himself says that? Hugh didn't say anything, just continued staring at Cyrus who now had a soft smile on his face.

"...and her nose. And her face. And her temper." Cyrus takes a moment to wipe his eyes off- were those tears? Hugh just stared dumbly at the ex-criminal. He wanted to ask who his mother was, but somehow, couldn't find the will to do so.

As if reading his mind, Cyrus continued. "Her name was Stella. Back in the day, when I was just a two bit thief, she was the one who made Team Galactic. That time, it was just a small thing, a bit of smuggling here and there, never making too big a heist to gain public attention, but enough to give us a comfortable living. When she found me, I was made one of her commanders. A year later, we got married. When we got you we were so happy."

Hugh found that he still couldn't move his mouth. His throat felt dry, so he swallowed. He didn't want to miss a single detail about his mother. She may have been a criminal, but from the way Cyrus was talking about her, she was probably the most perfect person in existence.

"When you were one year old, she got caught. While she tried to escape, a policeman shot her. When I got the news, I was so _angry._ I tracked the man sown and killed him in cold blood. The year after that was so painful. I couldn't handle living a life without her. And looking at you... You reminded me so much about her... I couldn't stand it. I gave you away and tried to drown myself in my work. Then I heard stories about Arceus. If he could create the entire world, he could easily give me back my wife. And so for the next eleven years, I spent every waking moment chasing after it. Trying to get her back. I never meant to send you away for so long. After I got her back, I was planning on coming for you."

Hugh felt weak. Ever since he heard of Cyrus, people have been referring to him as a cold blooded killer, a bastard, some who deserved nothing better than to be locked away for life. But how many people actually knew his story? He was just a man who wanted his wife back. The fact that he would risk the entire world to save her just showed how much he loved her.

For a moment Hugh shut his eyes and thought about what his life would have been if his mother was still alive. They would have been happy. Not that Hugh was ever unhappy growing up in Aspertia, but he would have been happier with his father. True he may have been raised to become a criminal, but he would have been with his mother.

Hugh imagined her as a beautiful woman with short brown hair. He had her eyes and nose, and jawline, apparently, so he mentally painted her blank face with a sharp nose and his eyes. Then he remembered that his eye structure was like Cyrus's, it was only the eye colour that matched so he gave her softer eyes that weren't meant for glaring. He gave her a soft smile and stepped back to admire the picture.

She was beautiful.

He could understand why Cyrus wanted her back. Heck, He might have even helped the man, even with destroying the world, if it meant getting his mother back. His thoughts were interrupted when Cyrus started speaking again.

"I never meant for people to get hurt. I never meant to abandon you either. I can understand that you hate me for leaving, but I just want you to know that-"his voice broke down over here. Cyrus took a moment to compose himself before continuing. "I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry."

Both people looked down at the ground when they found it hard to make eye contact until Hugh spoke.

"I may not like the fact that you left me, but I don't hate you. I can't forgive for nearly killing everybody and nearly destroying the entire world-" here he was interrupted by Cyrus chuckling. The bastard was actually _chuckling._ Hugh couldn't help but join him for a bit, before sobering up. "-but I understand why you did it."

But, before Cyrus could get too relieved, Hugh added "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to hand your sorry ass to the Police. I come to Sinnoh and ask one question about you and the Police start chasing me like I insulted their mothers. Even though, I didn't."

Cyrus blinked for a moment and then he laughed. This wasn't a chuckle. It was full blown out laughter. It was contagious. Who knew that the leader of Team Galactic had such a loud laugh?

They were interrupted by a loud screech which stopped them both short.

Cyrus's face grew grim, as he turned to inspect the general direction of the sound. Hugh thought that it definitely could not be good ("Really? I would have never figured that out. You are a genius." "I will hit you. I will talk to a psychologist, and she or he will tell me a way to hit you.")

He turned to look in the same direction, his eyes searching for what troubled Cyrus, he found nothing.

"It's approaching. We have to get out of here."

With nothing more than that, Cyrus began to run straight off the edge of the giant rock they were on. Another floating boulder captured him in its gravitational field, stopping the man from falling. When he sensed that Hugh wasn't following, he turned round to glare at the boy, "Well? Aren't you coming?"

"Errr...dad? The portal's that-a-way."

-Pokémon-

The two figures ran as fast as they could, leaping from rock to rock with such impeccable grace, that you would have though them to be trained free-runners.

Years of living their younger days in the wild with nothing but their Pokemon and wits for survival helped them gain peak physical ability. It is said that the better a trainer a person is, the more athletic he is. And the two of them were proof of that statement.

From rock to rock they flew past; travelling at a break-neck pace, sprinting like their lives depended on it ("Your lives do depend on it." "This is not the time for smart-ass comments!")

But the shadow kept approaching. Looming behind them, like certain death, it approached.

"We aren't going to make it! It's too fast!" Cyrus yelled at Hugh, not breaking a stride.

"We are!" shot back Hugh, still keeping pace. "I am not dying out here just because I wanted to meet my criminal father!"

"No one asked you to do that, punk!"

"You don't get to tell me what to do! You nearly destroyed the world!"

Cyrus lapsed back into muttering under his breath, and Hugh tried gritting his teeth and smirking at the same time. It failed, and Hugh ended up feeling very foolish. ("What do you mean, ' _feeling_ very foolish'? You are already extremely foolish." "...I will not respond.")

Finally, tired of simply running around like a headless Pidove, Hugh skid to a stop, and dug his hand into his pocket. Cyrus immediately followed suit, sliding into a halt. "What are you doing?" Cyrus barked, and Hugh threw his Pokedex at him.

"That came with a tracking function. It will show you where exactly the portal is. Get help."

"But-"

"You're faster than me in this area, so you'll reach there in less time. Plus, I have one last Pokemon, I can buy you some time."

Cyrus stared long and hard at Hugh, but he didn't budge. Instead, he stared right back. ("Oooh! Dramatic Tension!" "Seriously, _please_ shut up.")

After a tense moment, "Fine" Cyrus relented. He took off running, Pokedex in tow, leaving Hugh behind.

The teen took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "This is it." He mumbled to himself. "You can do this." ("Of course you can't. You are going to die a painful death." "If you aren't going to shut up, could at least be supportive?" "Let me think about that...Nope.")

The creature came closer and closer, flying faster than Hugh imagined it would. When it was nearly upon Hugh, it gave a draconian roar that seemed to rattle Hugh's bones with sound intensity alone. ("Does it know Uproar? It looks like it knows Uproar." "Hmm... I don't know. I kind of assumed it came with the size.")

It became visible as it neared, parting the mist that that seemed to float in random areas of the dimension. It's long serpentine body was riddled with black, grey and red stripes. It's red eyes gleamed as it spotted Hugh, and it let out another roar.

Hugh gulped, his hands sneaking down to his last Poke-ball, and throwing it. His Shuppet came out, significantly stronger than it was when he received it, strong enough to take out at least half a trainer's team on its own, but not strong enough.

And with it, he went into battle with the Giratina.

* * *

Yup, that's it. I hope I didn't make this completely horrible, so...yeah...

Anyway, hope you enjoyed!

Leave a review.

-ProdigyPsycho


End file.
